Great Lakes Advisors LLC Invests $5.31 Million in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $IONS

Great Lakes Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 66,924 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,306,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the second quarter valued at approximately $607,000. Grandfield & Dodd LLC acquired a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 2nd quarter worth about $2,940,000. Deutsche Bank AG bought a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the second quarter valued at approximately $13,449,000. Perigon Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter valued at $276,000. Finally, TimesSquare Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the second quarter worth about $48,690,000. 93.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

IONS stock opened at $60.80 on Thursday. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a one year low of $41.71 and a one year high of $86.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.07, a current ratio of 7.89 and a quick ratio of 7.73. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $64.77 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $72.41. The stock has a market cap of $10.10 billion, a PE ratio of -17.57 and a beta of 0.41.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported ($0.69) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.08) by $0.39. The firm had revenue of $267.95 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $189.10 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 64.76% and a negative return on equity of 111.08%. The business’s revenue was down 40.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.70 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on IONS shares. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $111.00 price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Guggenheim lowered their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $106.00 to $89.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Leerink Partners boosted their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $122.00 to $129.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, June 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $72.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $94.15.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Michael R. Hayden acquired 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 30th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $53.38 per share, for a total transaction of $800,700.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 19,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,014,220. This represents a 375.00% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Holly B. Kordasiewicz sold 60,846 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.41, for a total transaction of $4,466,704.86. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 22,458 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,648,641.78. This trade represents a 73.04% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 233,163 shares of company stock valued at $18,316,551 over the last quarter. 1.81% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc is a biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of RNA-targeted therapies designed to modulate gene expression. The company’s proprietary antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) technology enables the selective binding of short synthetic strands of nucleic acids to messenger RNA (mRNA), thereby inhibiting or altering the production of disease-causing proteins. Ionis’ pipeline spans a range of therapeutic areas, including neurological disorders, cardiovascular conditions, metabolic diseases and rare genetic disorders.

Since its founding in 1989 by Dr.